Prius III: MSRP - $23,950 ($750 Delivery and $200 floor mats) Lease End Value - $16,560 Money Fact Sell Rate - 0.00325 Initial Cap Cost - $23,301 $2,000 down, 36 months and $304.79/month How does this look? I bought my 2008 Package #2 from this dealer and negotiated a very fair price. I didn't negotiate a price this time and just asked for their lease price. Can I do better than this? Thank you.
It's simple, calculate your interest cost and check the lease-end value on a % basis versus prior years.
There are a few variables that affect the monthly payment (most importantly MSRP, selling price, money factor, residual, acquisition fee, and down payment--which is also called cap reduction), and a standardized way of calculating it. Attached is a simple spreadsheet I used when I leased my Prius. It's a good way to keep the dealer from turning this into a shell game. Not knowing what your local sales tax is, nor how many miles per year, it's hard to make a judgment on the monthly payment. Since you're putting $2K down, it doesn't seem like you got much, if any, discount from the purchase price. Also, the money factor looks high (at least compared to what I got back in June--see attached spreadsheet). Check leasecompare.com to get the current money factors and residuals. Some dealers mark up the money factor & acquisition fee to pad their profit.
